130 PLANT LIFE OK THE FAKM. 



there are many leaves, and they are not often all 

 affected in the same way at the same time ; and, more- 

 over, in the case of plants other than (t annuals," the 

 fall and death of the leaves does not involve the death of 

 the plant, as before explained. Even in the case of 

 annuals, the life, like the nutritive matter, goes out of 

 the leaves only to enter the seed. 



Successor thus follows predecessor in one invariable 

 rhythm, and although the limits of the individual exis- 

 tence can be but too readily recognized, the real ' end of 

 life, so far as the whole race of living creatures whether 

 plant or animal is concerned, is as incapable of being 

 appreciated by the physiologist as is its beginning. 



